Thursday, May 07, 2009

Art History Gets WeirdA new book called Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence claims that Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his own ear, but in fact lost it in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin. The authors, German academics Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, spent 10 years researching the incident, using the original police investigation and the letters of the two artists as their starting point. Fascinating.

Solve Puzzles for Science!Foldit is a computer game that allows you to have fun and contribute to important scientific research at the same time. It attempts to predict the structure of a protein by taking advantage of humans' puzzle-solving abilities, by having players figure out as many ways as possible to fold proteins, regarded as one of the hardest problems in biology today (current methods take a lot of money and time, even for computers). Proteins are an element in many serious diseases, so finding out the structure of a protein is key to understanding how it works and therefore how to treat it. Via Andrew (thanks!)

Free Wallpaper from OmnivoreThe June issue of Print Magazine has an article by contributing editor Jude Stewart about the rise of four favorite pattern motifs: the fleur de lis, paisleys, stripes, and polka dots. To illustrate the article, Print commissioned Omnivore to create a wallpaper using all four patterns in various interlocking and overlapping points — and they're currently offering readers a downloadable version for free!

The Morning News has a slideshow of the stunning work of legendary painter Barkley Hendricks — have a look here. Barkley Hendricks: Birth of the Cool, Hendricks’s first career retrospective, is currently on tour and will appear next at the Santa Monica Museum of Art from May 16 to August 22, 2009. Shown above is his painting Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris, from 1972, oil and acrylic on linen canvas.